


shiba loving hours

by emeraldpalace



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:02:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21974767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emeraldpalace/pseuds/emeraldpalace
Summary: Shibayama pretends he's not sick. The Nekoma team doesn't buy it.
Comments: 21
Kudos: 106





	shiba loving hours

**Author's Note:**

  * For [acidulication](https://archiveofourown.org/users/acidulication/gifts).



> this is just a cute lil thing i wrote for the lovely lovely [nostra](https://twitter.com/acidulication) who you should definitely check out!!

Yuuki tells his mom that he’s fine when she asks him if he’s feeling alright, when he wakes up with a slightly sore throat, and he tells himself the same thing when he’s sneezing what seems to be every other minute on his train ride to school. 

He did drink hot tea during breakfast after all, and he’s wearing his thick coat and a scarf to combat the winter chill of Tokyo, as he always does, so there’s no reason for him to _actually_ be sick. He greets his teammates as normal during morning practice too, but as soon as he takes his usual seat on the locker room bench next to Inuoka, the taller boy eyes him with furrowed eyebrows.

“Hey, Shibayama, are you alright?” he asks in slight concern.

“Oh, uhm, yeah!” Yuuki replies quickly. “I’m just a little tired, is all!”

“Ah, if you say so,” Inuoka replies, though he still looks at him with worried suspicion.

Yuuki also hoped that the exercise would also make him feel better, but he finds that it’s only wearing him out after the first half hour, and even worse, other people start to notice too.

“Hey, you alright?” Yaku-san asks him after a while of back and forth receiving. “You’re a bit off today.”

“Ah, I’m sorry!” Yuuki bows down quickly. “I just, feel a little tired, and, and—”

“Hey, hey,” his senpai shushes him gently, putting a hand on his shoulder and pushing Yuuki upright again. “You don’t have to apologize, I’m just worried.”

“I’m sorry, Yaku-san,” he repeats again, quickly noticing the blunder, though Yaku-san just chuckles.

“What did I just say?”

“I—,” Yuuki isn’t sure what to say that isn’t another apology, though Yaku-san just gives him another pat on his head, a soft but determined expression in his eyes.

“Just take it easy today, alright?”

Yuuki simply nods, can feel the heat rising up to his cheeks, equal parts shame and exetertion that he knows he shouldn’t be feeling yet. They return to practice again, and he can’t fully feel comfortable with the obvious way he’s being eyed by his upperclassmen with concern, but he also feels grateful at the lack of admonishment he knows he probably deserves.

It sadly doesn’t get much better throughout the day. His sinuses feel more and more irritated with every blow of his nose, and even with a hot beverage from the cafeteria and a face mask from the nurse’s office, he starts to feel gross all over his body, sticky and heavy and uncomfortably warm.

“Are you sure you’re okay? Maybe you should go home,” Teshiro suggests when they’re eating lunch as they always do.

“Yeah, I mean, no offense, but you look kinda really bad,” Lev says around a mouthful of food.

“Ha—,” _thanks_ , he tries to finish, even as he’s overcome by yet another coughing fit. “I’m fine,” he croakily gets out right afterwards, but the other first-years just look at him with unconvinced looks.

“I really am! It’s just a small cold…” he affirms again, resisting the urge to sniff because he knows it wouldn’t help his case. 

They finally relent after that, but his senpai aren’t nearly as understanding a couple of hours later when they’re all getting ready for afternoon practice.

“Damn, Shiba, you look like shit,” Yamamoto-san says as soon as he walks in, and Yuuki freezes.

Kozume-san also looks up and takes a single look at him before humming in thought. “Tora’s right, for once.”

“Hey!”

Yuuki just looks down at his feet. He hates being so obviously weak, especially since he knows Kozume-san wouldn’t say anything he didn’t think was an obvious truth, and even Fukunaga-san is nodding solemnly behind him. Still, Yuuki refuses to admit defeat against his own body.

“Maybe I’m a little ill, but I can still practice—” 

“Nope, you should go home,” Kuroo-san interrupts him, a rare seriousness on his face. “You really don’t look well.”

“But—“

His train of thought halts when Kai-san suddenly walks up him, and pushes his fringe away with one large gentle hand, while leaning down and pressing his cheek against Yuuki’s forehead. He’s too stunned to move, feels a little more disoriented than he already did, even as Kai-san moves back with a thoughtful hum.

“That’s definitely a fever,” he comments calmly, only now noticing the frozen looks of not only Yuuki, but the rest of the team as well.

“Ah, sorry,” he smiles a little sheepishly, “That’s what my mother always does-”

“It’s- It’s fine!” Yuuki quickly exclaims and thinks the heat in his cheeks might be from something else, for the first time today.

“But seriously, you should go home, get some rest.”

Kuroo-san pipes up again. “Captain and vice-captain’s orders!”

“But—”

“You shouldnt overwork yourself right before the Spring High.” Kozume adds too.

“You can make up for it when you feel better,” Yaku says, a reassuring smile on his face. “We’ll tell the coaches too.”

Yuuki looks around the locker room, kind faces looking back at him, and he feels himself cave — a grateful warmth blooms in his chest, so different from the cloying heat he’s felt throughout the day and he suppresses the sting of tears in his eyes as he bows down to them.

“Thank you!” He says, and sniffs once, not sure if from the tears or from the sickness. “I’ll make sure to be back—”

“Okay, go on now,” Kuroo-san interrupts him yet again, pushing at his shoulders softly but intently, turning him so he’s facing back outside. “Or, wait, should someone walk you to the station?” he asks in genuine concern.

“N-no, I’ll be fine!”

“You sure? I don’t mind—”

“Yes! Definitely!” Yuuki exclaims perhaps a bit too loudly, but he still has his last little sliver of pride left to preserve.

“Now now, let’s not smother him,” Kai pipes up, but turns his kind eyes to Yuuki. “But stay safe, alright?”

“O-of course! It really is just a cold…”

“Okay, then get out now!” Kuroo softly pushes at him yet again. “No coming back until you’re in tip top shape again, you hear? _Captain’s orders_.” He adds with an exaggerated seriousness that makes Yuuki giggle, even if it itches at his throat again.

“Yes!”

His mother greets him with equal amounts worry and surprise when he comes home much earlier than usual, and then ushers him into bed when his temperature is coming dangerously close to 40 degrees. He reluctantly finds that it’s probably for the best that he left when he did—by the time he knows practice would be wrapping up, he’s drifting in and out of consciousness feverishly, covering what feels like his entire body and blanket in unpleasant bodily fluids. But at some point, when he’s more awake than not, he notices his phone lighting up several times on his nightstand. He takes it in hand and makes out the messages despite his blurry vision. About a dozen or so well-wishes greet him, mostly personal ones, but also a couple in the team’s group chat.

A new message pops up in the group chat as Yuuki is scrolling through it. It’s another “ _Get well soon! We’ll be waiting!!_ ” from Kuroo-san, followed by a couple sparkly and flexing emojis, but what catches his attention is the picture below it: his captain makes up most of the picture, being the one who took the selfie, but behind him is the entire team, turned to the camera and holding their thumbs up or making peace signs, most of them smiling broadly at the camera. 

Yuuki can’t help the giddy giggle that breaks out, and he quickly types out a ‘ _Thank you everyone!_ ” and sends it off right before his eyes feel heavy and he drifts off yet again, this time with a smile on his face.

**Author's Note:**

> feel free to follow me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/emeraIdpalace)


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